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by Un_Romancible_NPC



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, ML/DC - Fandom, MLDC - Fandom, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug, miraculous x DC - Fandom
Genre: A C C I D E N T A L L Y, ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THIS ON VALENTINE'S DAY ON TUMBLR, AHAHAH I ONLY USED THE WORD 'SOUL' ONCE IN THIS FIC, Angst, Angstangstangst, Anyways yeah, BE VAGUE SHOW DON'T TELL HOWEVER YOU WANNA DO IT, BUT I GUESS HERE YOU GO, Clean Romance, FIGHT ME OVERUSE OF THE WORD 'SOULMATE' IN THESE KINDS OF FICS CAN GET STALE REALLY QUICK, Fluff, Fluff so sweet it'll rot your teeth, I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN FLUFF LIKE THIS IN MY LIFE BEFORE, I cannot stress this enough, I'M SORRY I LOVE SO MANY SOULMATE FICS BUT Y'ALL..., LET ME GO 2 CHAPTERS WITHOUT SEEING THE WORD 'SOUL' I AM B E G G I N G Y O U, Other, PLEASE THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO SAY THAT, Soulmate AU, ayyyy censored swearing for Jasoonnnnn, blood tw, dun worry tho, gun tw, it's not super prevalent but it's there, mldc crossover fic, please, pompeii by bastille intensifies, posted this on tumblr first, straight fluff at the end, turns into fluff, will provide link i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22750708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Un_Romancible_NPC/pseuds/Un_Romancible_NPC
Summary: From the time Marinette was 13, her favorite moments with the link were the at the top of high buildings. Because looking out over the rooftops she could, if only for a moment, taste the wind and fog and rain on her tongue; feel the wet, sharp, sticky air of whatever city He called home; somehow understand what it meant to fly.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne / Selina Kyle, Jasonette - Relationship, Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Jason Todd, Red Hood / Ladybug
Comments: 13
Kudos: 479





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**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [it's... it's on tumblr uh... Soulmate Idea](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/559780) by roseinbloom02(tumblr) and Eat0crow(tumblr). 



> I have never written Jasonette before because i didn't write fanfic until Chance (my previous and first fic) so like.....
> 
> naturally i wrote some angst.
> 
> Soulmate AU where you share memories with your soulmate when you see visual reminders of the memory.  
> i have been trying to think up a description for 45 minutes  
> heccin' who cares dude  
> Jasonette fans, come an' get y'all juice.

From the time Marinette was 13, her favorite moments with the link were the at the top of high buildings. Because looking out over the rooftops she could, if only for a moment, taste the wind and fog and rain on her tongue; feel the wet, sharp, sticky air of whatever city He called home; somehow understand what it meant to fly.

Sometimes she saw The Man In Black with him. He was smiling, usually. A small smile, but one that screamed of freedom, and courage, and pride. Marinette loved understanding what it felt like to fly with the raindrops on her face and the feeling of someone who cared for you staying at your side.

But then…

Then came the day when she was going with her Papa to the old warehouse where they bought their flour, around carnival season, someone passing by with clown makeup, and suddenly the world was drowning in its own blood.

Papa had to call the hospital, because everything was screaming and somehow the fact the she wasn’t–wouldn’t–couldn’t, made the entire universe catch itself on fire, branding itself with the twisted iron it had used to beat Him to a pulp.

She woke up in the hospital, the rusty taste of blood on her tongue, and enough trauma to last her a lifetime.

Her parents switched suppliers.

Seven therapists and four years of superhero-ing later, and she thought she was okay. She thought it would end there.

Oh how wrong she was…

Marinette was 18, sitting quietly on a roof, letting the gentle lull of His memory of flying flutter through her mind, and she happened to glance down at a nearby graveyard.

_Dirt under His nails, lungs shrieking for air, eyes that FELT bloodshot, swollen, hollow, **wrong**. He emerged from the pool, the viscous liquid that seemed to suck Him down clung to His skin, pried at His mind, **clawed at His soul**. _

_An elderly man stood to the side, his silvery goatee glinting faintly green in the light._

_Why was it coming from the pool?_

_What was in the pool?_

**_And then He screamed._ **

Marinette shrieked in horror, in shared pain, curling up on the roof, clawing at her upper arms, begging the vision to stop, _stop_ , _stopstop_ **stopstopSTOP** –

She woke up on the roof.

Alone.

Alive…

But so very Scared.

When she got home that night, she didn’t tell her parents.

A month later, she saw Him again. She was on a patrol at 2am, a light mist of rain covering the city in a silvery blanket. She landed in an alleyway near her home, and leaned against the brick wall, panting slightly.

_He pushed another magazine into place with a **click.**  
_

_There was blood._

_It might have been His, it might have been Theirs, but there was blood on his hands, his face, leaking into his eye, and he was holding a gun._

_His heavy, steel-toed boot was pressed into their sternum, their broken arms trying desperately to stop him._

_The pistol barrel glinted sickeningly orange in the streetlights and through the rain and Their face was wide, petrified, sorrowful, **fearful.**_

The _**T H U D** _of the gunshot echoed in her chest as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face, mingling with the snot and the **_loss_ **because this time she could **_feel_ **His anger.

Stars above, He was **_so angry_.**

When she got home she curled under her desk and sobbed, her breath shuddering and shaken, and mingling with hollow wishes to never have been born. She threw up at least twice.

Tikki cleansed four akumas that night.

The next morning, Marinette went to school.

Marinette sat in her room, five minutes before she was 20 years old, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenching bunches of her bedclothes, her little red kwami sleeping peacefully in her custom pillow beside Mari’s head.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw The Man In Black. Only, instead of a small, soft, gentle smile, his eyes were wide with agony and horror.

 _Balcony_. She thought at last, opening her eyes to stare into the blackness of her unlit room. _The rooftops._ She didn’t dare wake Tikki–her kwami had enough to worry about and an irregular sleep schedule was the last thing she needed on top of that–but tonight she had to escape.

She climbed onto her balcony and stared out at the horizon, the stars half-hidden by Paris’s city lights.

_He stared up at the stars._

_His new leather jacket was softer on the inside than the one before._ _Perhaps because it was fresh. Unused. Unstained… Untainted._

_He rubbed the bandages on his arm and glanced at the sky, His city’s skyline was a jumble of yellow, gold, and green._

_“You know…” He said after a moment. His voice had an edge but… but somehow the edge was fond. “I never thought I’d see another midnight here, and **not** want to burn this hell-hole to the ground.” He let out a faint scoff and **somehow** , it was just as soft as the interior of his jacket. “Least of all seeing one and not wanting to burn **you** to the ground either” He glanced to the side, and there stood The Man In Black._

_And the Man In Black stared at the horizon, and said nothing for a moment, his cowl pushed back to reveal his face and hair. A few grey streaks showed along his temple._ _“Well.” The Man In Black said, his voice softer than it had been in years. “If i’m allowed to be honest here, neither did i.” His eyes were still filled with pain, with guilt, with anguish… but his smile was back. Soft, and proud, and **okay.**_

_He snorted. “If you weren’t honest I’d prob’ly still want to kill you, Bats.”_

Marinette blinked slowly, once, twice.

And something in her chest released and she cried. She cried well into the night, laughing and celebrating, because he was okay. The Man In Black was okay.

**_They were okay._ **

And for the first time in nearly 2 years, **_she_** was okay.

When Marinette turned 22, she flew overseas to America.

Two months later, fabric tape in her bag, heart in her throat, and hope fluttering in her chest, she stepped into Wayne Enterprises to do Mr. Wayne’s measurements for a suit to the upcoming charity gala.

Her heels **clcc-clx-clcc** -ed on the tile floor as she made her way to the reception desk. She checked her phone.

 _12 minutes early_.

Well, thanks anxiety.

A short conversation with the very helpful receptionist later, and she was sitting patiently in one of the chairs outside Mr. Wayne’s office, fiddling with the a small strand of glass worry-beads and wondering what her color options would be.

The muffled shouts of someone from inside the office quickly snapped her out of her reverie.

**“Well f– _screw_ management! Why the hell did you even bring this up?!”**

Marinette’s beads clattered to the ground.

_No._

**“Jason it’s _one_ event. We both know full-well you haven’t left the house except at night for well over six months.”**

_No that wasn’t possible._

**“Is that why you dragged me _all the way up here_ at the _butt-crack_ of dawn to talk about going to an event we both know i’ll inevitably screw up?!”**

**“No. I dragged you all the way up here at the butt-crack of dawn because you’ll be able to get a read on every single wealthy family in the entire North-Eastern part of the United States.”  
**

_This. Wasn’t. Possible._

**“…Well. I gotta hand it to you, old man. Never thought you’d actually try to help me, for once.”**

**“Bold of you to assume I never tried.”  
**

**“… _Was that a meme.”_  
**

**“Blame Tim, it’s all he spouts now-a-days.”  
**

**“I don’t have any words for you, Bats.”**

**“To be honest, neither do i.”**

**“…Alright whatever.”**

Marinette stared at the door to her future in literally every sense of the word. She knew exactly who was behind that door. She’d never seen his face, not even in mirrors; only the red helmet he wore when he flew by the windows of some skyscraper. But she was about to find out.

And she had never been more terrified in her life.

She’d seen him kill.

She’d seen him fall.

She’d seen him cry.

She’d _**felt**_ him break and slowly put himself back together.

She wasn’t sure if she was ready to see him in person…

Or The Man In Black for that matter.

**“Hey, you said the tailor was coming, right?”**

**“Yes, she should be here shortly.”  
**

**“Swear on my grave I will punch her in the throat if she does anything funny.”**

**“Well, i suppose that’s reasonable.”  
**

_**bzztbzztbzzt** (The intercom?)_

**_“Yes, Miss Kyle?”  
_ **

**_“The tailor is here, Mr. Wayne, if you’re finished lecturing your child.”  
_ **

**“Whiskers you flirt with Bats while I’m here _and_ the tailor’s outside, I will tie your tail to a street lamp and call The Penguin to come pick you up.”  
**

**“Jason…”**

**“I would never dream.”  
**

Marinette related to the sigh that The Man In Black let out on a deep and emotional level.

**“Would you kindly send her in, Selina?”  
**

**“She’s right outside your door, darling. I hope for your sake, she didn’t hear a thing you two were talking about. She’s a sweet little kitten and I’d hate to have to delay the announcement because you scared her off.”  
**

Marinette sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment.

She could do this.

The clunk-thud of footsteps drew near the door.

She could do this.

The door clicked open.

**_NOPE, she couldn’t do this_ **

“I guess you’re–”

Marinette jolted to her feet, her bag flying to the other side of the hallway as she spun around, and promptly kicked her glass worry-beads directly under His feet.

Time stopped as his feet slipped out from under him and he began plummeting down, down, down toward the polished tile floor.

**_Why was she given the ability to be startled._ **

**_Why was fear allowed._ **

But, in all her her years of being Ladybug, if there was one thing Marinette had learned, it was how to catch people.

Faster than she had any recollection of being, she shot forward and wrapped one arm around his chest and the other wrapping around his neck as he twisted in his fall, which somehow ended up as her holding him dip-style.

“Ohmygoshareyouokay?!” She rushed out, superhero habits overruling the logical fact that what she’d just done was incredibly not normal, incredibly intimate, and incredibly smooth.

She looked into his eyes and in a whip-crack, lightning strike of a moment she _felt it_. The gentle nudge of a connection that tugged at her chest and whispered that this? This was **_right._** As if her soul itself let out a huge sigh of relief, and gasp of excitement at the same time.

 _Oh!_ it said cheerily, opening the door wider. _**There** you are!_

He blinked at her for a moment, obviously completely shell-shocked. He’d felt it too, there was no doubt about that.

 _oh_ …she thought after a moment of staring. _His eyes are blue._

……..

**_W a i t a s e c o n d._ **

Her face flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet, and she almost dropped him in her rather over-dramatic rush to put him back on his feet.

“I am **_so sorry_ , **sir I-I didn’t–I mean it’s just **_habit_** by this point I–”

 _ **“PIXIE?!”**_ He practically screamed, flinging out his arms and sticking both of them in his hair, mussing up the neat white streak that ran slightly off-center in the middle of his messy bangs. “What the _hell_ are you doing in Gotham?!”

Marinette blinked at him for a moment, her flush dying down slightly. “I–I’m here to make Mr. Wayne a suit! I didn’t– ** _Mon Kwami, Mr. Wayne is The Man In Black?!_** ”

 **“ _YOU_ WERE A SUPERHERO?!!?**” He flung out his arms again, staring in mild horror at some unseen thing in the distance.

Marinette half scowled, half pouted at him in confusion. “W-well of course! You were t–”

“YOU ARE **_LITERALLY_** SMALLER THAN DAMIAN!!”

“I mean, i don’t _doubt_ that, but what does–”

“I thought you were _taller_ have you been this small your entire life?!”

Marinette stared at him in complete bafflement. “Well I had a growth-spurt when i was 16 and gained an extra 6 inches but I still don’t–”

“YOU’VE BEEN FIGHTING LITERAL CANDY-COLORED **_HELL-BEASTS_** YOUR ENTIRE LIFE AND YOU’RE **BARELY 5′2′’???** ”

“Well you’ve been fighting insane people and maniacs your entire life and you were barely 5′6′‘ at the time!”

“HoW THE HELL DID YOU–”

“Being able to compare you to The man In Black gave me a good measurement, considering he’s about… 6′4′‘ or so, and for the first while you were looking up at him… Why are you surprised by my height?!”

“How aren’t _you_ surprised by mine?!”

“I know fashion and every now and then when you’d look at your reflection in building glass you had a tall build, plus you looked down toward people most of your life, and even at The Man In Black after the… after… more recently.” Marinette looked away, rubbing her now-cold upper arms.

“…you know…”

Marinette shuddered, eyes blurring slightly. “I _**saw**_.”

Silence.

“…I’m so sorry Pixie.”

Marinette let out a short, barking laugh. “I should be saying that to you, you know.”

He snorted, it was meant to sound aloof, but somehow it sounded hollow. “Nah, Pixie I’ve heard it plenty, don’t need to hear it again.”

She looked back at Him. His face was handsome, but scarred. His eyes… she’d seen those eyes in the mirror countless times. Haunted, hurting, alone.

_Not anymore._

She slowly reached for his hand. He didn’t flinch away, like she was afraid he would. Clasping his hand in both of hers, she stared at the lines, the scars, the rough imperfections that made it up.

“Then I won’t say it.” She examined a fresh bandage on his index finger. “But I hope you know I mean it. I can’t change… well, anything. Anything, really. But I **_can_** be a rock. You probably know better than almost anyone I had to be my own for a very long time… I guess if you’re looking for my resume to prove I won’t give up, that’s all i can show… I hope it’ll be enough.”

Silence.

_Kwami, please don’t let him think i’m creepy or forward or–_

His other hand, equally scarred as the first, wrapped around both of hers.

“Guess all I can offer is the same.” He said. “I’m not gonna lie, i’m… well i’m a mess. But hey, if I can rise from the dead, I can manage to smile for you every now and again, right?”

Marinette blinked and looked up at him, and his eyes were soft, safe, _home._ For another split second, she felt that tug once again.

 _Now that you’re here,_ it said, enveloping them in a warm embrace. _We can hope **together.** Now that you’re here, we can start to be okay._

 **“I heard a lot of shrieking,”** Miss Kyle said, her voice crackling over the intercom. **“Is everything okay?”**

The world ground to a halt and Marinette turned beet-red as an awkward cough from Mr. Wayne reminded her that _oh yeah, **there was an audience.**_

“Selina,” Mr. Wayne said in, to his credit, an attempt at whispering. “Now really isn’t–”

“WHISKERS YOU ABSOLUTE FURRY I SWEAR ON MY GRAVE–”

Marinette let her head fall onto her hands, which were still clasped around His, and half groaned, half laughed in sheer misery as a mini shouting match began between Miss Kyle and–

 _Wait a second.._.

“Wait, what’s your name?”

Complete silence fell over the entire group.

“You don’t know??” He asked incredulously, seemingly failing to notice their still-clasped hands. “Bats’s been shouting it for like, the last hour!”

“Well,” Mari half-scoffed under her breath, flushing. “I was kind of not processing anything other than **_dear heavens above He’s in there_ ,** so no?”

He burst out laughing.

“You’re–you’re telling me,” he said, finally letting go of her hands to wipe his eye of a tear. “You’re telling me you could tell how tall i was based off of _occasional mirror-shots_ , but you didn’t process my name?!”

“You don’t have any _proof_ that I heard–”

He snorted, still chuckling. “You were literally right outside the office, there is _**no way on 17 Earths**_ you _**didn’t**_ hear our conversation.”

“W-well what’s _**my**_ name!!”

 _That_ shut him up.

“MDC…?” he tried after a moment.

“So you’re telling me,” Mr. Wayne said, smirking from his place sitting on the edge of his desk. “You could track out someone’s entire criminal life in less than two days, but couldn’t process the name I’ve been telling you about for the last two hours?”

Marinette burst out laughing.

“Wow.” He said, glaring at Mr. Wayne. “Betrayed twice, eh?”

Marinette burst into a second round of laughter and missed the gentle, happy smile He was giving her.

“What if we do a quick trade?” Marinette asked after a moment, still giggling.

“How so?” he asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

“You’ll see!” She said, mischievous light in her eye. “Mr. Wayne, would you happen to have a sharpie or two on you?”

Mr. Wayne seemed to be watching her carefully as he nodded, a small curious smile on his face. “I don’t have two sharpies,” he said. “But i do have a couple pens.”

“Thank you, sir, those will do just as well!”

Mr. Wayne tossed them to her and she caught them with ease, (Years of catching Lucky Charms, and practicing throwing her yo-yo in her room out of her ladybug suit paid off with excellent hand-eye coordination.) and she handed one of the pens to Him.

“Here,” she said. “You write your name on my left hand, and I’ll write mine on yours!”

“Don’t expect it to be neat.” He said with a laugh.

“Only if you don’t expect mine to be!”

The palm of her hand itched slightly as the pen rubbed ink onto her skin. She smiled to herself, sticking her tongue out slightly as she scribbled down a few digits more than her name.

At last she pulled away and eagerly glanced at her hand–

 ** _“Did you seriously write your number too??”_** They asked at the same time, looking up from their hands.

“Well,” Mr. Wayne snorted from his desk. “If i wasn’t sure before I sure am now.”

Marinette looked over at him, still baffled and her face scarlet for the _fourth time in 10 minutes_.

“Whenever you two are ready, I’d like to get the fitting done. If only so you can move on to talk without an old man in the room to ruin the mood.”

 **“And the eavesdropping secretary.** ” Miss Kyle purred over the intercom.

“Time to skin a cat.” Jason said, twirling the pen between his fingers as though he were talking of the weather.

“If you’re in the business,” Mari said, grinning and stooping to collect her bag. “Make that two.”

Jason laughed.

And Mari knew she wanted to hear that sound over and over for the rest of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> https://un-romancible-npc.tumblr.com/post/190819485898/i-just-had-a-soulmate-idea 
> 
> Here's the post on tumblr y'all *dabs, looses balance, falls into nearby pool*


End file.
